Aviation regulators are poised to start revoking unused slots for international flights at congested US airports, reversing a policy established early on in the Covid-19 pandemic. The FAA said in a decision posted Friday that it denied a petition by trade groups Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association which sought to extend waivers allowing carriers to maintain their slots while many international routes were halted. The waivers expire on Saturday. The government’s policy is “to encourage high utilization of scarce public infrastructure,” the FAA said in the decision, which was posted on the Federal Register. The agency acknowledged that some countries, such as China, were still restricting flights, but said it would use more “targeted relief” in those instances. The action comes as demand for flights has soared this year, bouncing back from the steep declines starting in 2020. The industry continues to face challenges with staffing and other issues as it tries to ramp back to pre-pandemic levels. The FAA will generally require that carriers use 80% of each international slot at the most congested airports: Ronald Reagan Washington National, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, Newark Liberty, and San Francisco. <br/>
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Mexico is making progress towards recovering its Category 1 aviation rating, but the US FAA has not yet approved its plan as claimed earlier by the Mexican government, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Mexico's foreign ministry said earlier in a statement that U.S. authorities approved Mexico's government plan to recover its Category 1 aviation rating, revoked roughly a year and a half ago. Mexico expects to complete its action plan in December as part of its bid to recover the U.S.-issued aviation rating, the statement said. It added the FAA will visit Mexico and set a final audit date in January, in order to recover the Category 1 status before mid-2023. A spokesperson for Mexico's foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for clarification on whether the plan had indeed been approved. The FAA downgraded Mexico's aviation safety rating in May 2021, saying it fell short of regulating its air carriers "in accordance with minimum international safety standards." Restoring the category 1 rating would clear Aeromexico, Volaris and other Mexican carriers to add new US flights and potentially carry out marketing agreements with US airlines.<br/>
Airbus said Russian airlines are flying more domestically than before the pandemic, raising concern that they’re doing so without the necessary maintenance requirements because import sanctions prevent the aircraft from receiving spare parts or software upgrades. “We are worried about the conditions for maintenance as actually the planes are flying a lot,” Airbus CE Officer Guillaume Faury said on Friday as the manufacturer reported earnings. “Because of the sanctions, we cannot really monitor and support as we do with our customers in normal times. And that’s something that is indeed creating some concerns on the safety side. Now, there’s not much we can do about it.” Airlines in Russia are operating about 85% of 2019 capacity this winter, according to OAG data, although that’s with a large chunk of the country’s international links cut off. Sanctions that were brought in soon after the February invasion of Ukraine prevent manufacturers from being able to support Russian airlines, although carriers continue to operate their fleets of aircraft made by Airbus as well as Boeing. Aircraft lessors have also been caught up in the fight as roughly 400 jets that had been leased to Russian companies are barred from leaving the country without state permission. <br/>
The FIFA World Cup may be bringing as many as 1.2m fans to Qatar, but the nearby flashy emirate of Dubai is also looking to cash in on the major sports tournament taking place just a short flight away. Some soccer fan clubs have already said they’ll be commuting to Qatar during the cup on 45-minute flights from Dubai, the skyscraper-studded, beachfront city-state in the United Arab Emirates. Other fans plan to sleep on cruise ships or camp out in the desert amid a feverish rush for rooms in Doha. Dubai’s airlines, bars, restaurants, shopping malls and other attractions now hope to benefit, further boosting their rebounding tourism industry in the crucial fall and winter months after the blows delivered by the coronavirus pandemic. “If you can’t stay in Qatar, Dubai is the place you’d most like to go as a foreign tourist,” said James Swanston, a Middle East and North Africa expert at Capital Economics. “It’s somewhere safe, somewhere more liberal in terms of Western norms. It’s the most attractive destination.” Now home to the world’s tallest building, cavernous malls — including one with an indoor ski slope — and thriving nightclub scene, Dubai has seen explosive growth fueled by its boom-and-bust real estate market that’s transformed the one-time pearling village over the last 20 years. Its long-haul carrier Emirates helped make Dubai International Airport the busiest in the world for foreign travel and provides a steady stream of new visitors who stay for layovers or longer. And while still an autocratic sheikhdom like its other Gulf Arab neighbors, Dubai has a relatively more-liberal view on drinking and nightlife.<br/>
Japan has again become a popular travel destination among Hong Kongers after the government on Oct. 11 eased its COVID-related travel curbs and started accepting independent tourism, while Hong Kong also has scrapped its hotel quarantines for those arriving. With many people unable to go out of the territory for nearly three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan could benefit from Hong Kongers' "revenge travel." Only 5,900 Hong Kongers visited Japan in the first eight months of this year, down 99.6% from the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. But more than 10,000 Hong Kongers appear to have visited Japan in just one week starting from Oct. 11, according to industry estimates. Trips to Japan, which at one point nearly disappeared, have recovered thanks to changes in policies by the governments of Japan and Hong Kong. The Japanese government abolished its daily arrival cap and started accepting individual travelers again, while the Hong Kong government also eased its entry restrictions. Previously, Hong Kong required inbound travelers to quarantine at designated hotels for up to 21 days, but the measure was scrapped in late September. Now the government has introduced a measure called "0+3," which only requires international arrivals to undergo three days of medical surveillance at home or at a hotel of choice. According to Hong Kong-based travel booking site Klook, Japan-related searches increased by 11 times from the previous week after the Japanese government announced the easing of its daily arrival cap. Popular destinations are Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa. Airlines are increasing the number of flights to attract surging travel demand from Hong Kong to Japan. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airlines will resume flights to Haneda Airport every day from November, and have four flights a week to Sapporo starting in December.<br/>
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Saturday ordered urgent aid distribution in a southern province where landslides have been triggered by Tropical Storm Nalgae, which has killed 45 people across the country so far. Heavy rains and strong winds pounded the capital, Manila, and surrounding areas for most of Saturday as Nalgae forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes and disrupted peak holiday travel in much of the nation. Nalgae is the second deadliest cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, with the disasters agency reporting 45 deaths, mostly in hard-hit Maguindanao province. Another 33 people have been injured and 17 are registered missing. In the country's capital region, which includes Manila and other cities, flooding prompted authorities to suspend classes and sports events. Airlines have cancelled 116 domestic and international flights to and from the Philippines' main gateway, which stopped operations from 0800 to 1400 GMT because of strong winds, the transport ministry said. Nearly 7,500 passengers and workers, and 107 vessels, were stranded in the country's ports, the coast guard said.<br/>
After more than a decade in development, China’s first passenger jet is finally on the runway. The single-aisle C919, built by state-backed aerospace champion Comac, won regulatory approval by authorities late last month, a move hailed as a major milestone by officials. Beijing has made no secret of its desire to break the duopoly enjoyed for decades by Airbus and Boeing, helping to smooth the C919’s development with up to $72bn in state-related support, according to estimates from US think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It may now have the green light from the regulator but the C919 still has a long way to go before becoming a commercial success. Formal certification marks the end of flight testing and paves the way for the manufacturer to start deliveries of the jet, which are expected to begin later this year. Comac says it has already signed up 28 Chinese customers, including launch customer China Eastern Airlines, with orders for 815 planes but the majority are not yet confirmed. Several are with aircraft lessors that have yet to place the aircraft with an airline customer. The C919 is a “major product” which is also important for China, said Kelvin Lau, analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong. Globally, however, “people prefer Boeing and Airbus, so Comac’s market share will not be that great”, he added. It remains unclear when regulators in either the US or Europe will certify the C919, a move that would open up the international market. There is also uncertainty around whether western airlines would buy it.<br/>